Today, when media content such as an audio compact disk (CD) or Digital Video Disk (DVD) is played on a computing platform, a media player application is executed on a central processing unit (CPU) to listen to and/or view the media content. Because the media content is accessible to application programs, and further because the digital media content can be easily copied and/or otherwise distributed without a loss in quality, copyright holders such as movie studios and record labels are concerned about protecting their copyrighted material.
In order to protect copyrighted material, distributors of copyrighted material often utilize digital rights management (DRM) schemes such as, for example, CSS (content scrambling system), as employed on DVDs, and AACS (advanced access content system), as employed on Blu-Ray disks. Such schemes may employ encryption technologies to prevent access to copyrighted material without a license. However, because the media player is implemented in software, these schemes are prone to being broken by individuals seeking to circumvent the DRM schemes. Once the scheme has been broken, it is possible to widely distribute, perhaps via the Internet, a program that will allow free access (without a license) to the copyrighted material.